“Can you shower and come back to my place? There’s something I want to show you.”
“Sounds good. I’d love to see your new apartment.”
A while later, we’re entering his building. Two police officers get in the elevator with us. We ride up in silence and get off on the eighth floor. The cops follow us out and down the hallway. Liam and I look at each other and shrug.
Liam fishes keys out of his pocket. One of the cops asks, “Is this your apartment?”
“Yes.”
“Were you the one who called about a break-in?”
“No.” The door opens, and Garrett stands there, looking pissed. “What’s going on, man?”
“Someone ransacked the place,” Garrett says.
“Shit.” Liam rushes in, and the rest of us follow.
“Looks like your room got the worst of it,” Garrett says.
One of the officers inspects the door. “Doesn’t seem to be any damage. Whoever did this didn’t force their way in. You should check to see if anything’s missing.”
Liam makes a beeline for his bedroom.
Their place is nice, or it would be if it weren’t for all the upended furniture and emptied drawers.
“The door was unlocked when I got here,” Garrett says. “I called Crew. He and Bria left around noon. He’s sure he locked the door.”
“Whoever it was had a key,” the officer says. “Or is one hell of a locksmith.”
“Nobody else has a key,” Garrett says. “We only moved in a few days ago.”
“We’ll check with the super and see if the locks were changed. If not, it could be an angry ex-tenant. Maybe they got evicted.”
Crew and Bria run in. Bria covers her mouth in shock. “Who would do this?”
“You live here, too?” the tall cop says.
“Yes, both of us,” Crew tells him.
“Can you check to see if anything was taken?”
A few minutes later, Bria comes out with her jewelry box. “It was scattered on the floor, but everything is here. Even my mom’s wedding rings.”
Liam returns, carrying a guitar. “We weren’t robbed.”
“What do you mean? Look around. Of course you were.”
He ignores me. “You missing anything, Garrett?”
“No.”
He turns to Bria. “How about you?”
She shows him the rings.
“Whoever did this wasn’t searching for money or even shit to pawn. This guitar is worth almost ten thousand bucks.”
“But … why then?” Bria asks.
Liam shoots Crew a look. “This has Dirk written all over it.”
“Your uncle?” I ask. “Why would he do this?”
“Fuck!” He rights a chair and sinks down on it. “Yesterday outside IRL, I told him I had video on a flash drive that could ruin him.”
The shorter officer frowns. “Something was taken, then. A flash drive?”
Liam says, “It’s not here. I keep it in a safe deposit box.”
“So nothing was stolen?”
Liam looks at Garrett, Crew, and Bria. They shake their heads. “Not as far as we know.”
Crew picks things up off the floor.
“Stop,” I say, turning to the cops. “Don’t you have to take pictures and dust for prints?”
“You watch a lot of TV,” the tall one says. “Nothing was stolen. There doesn’t even appear to be any damage. Count yourselves lucky. Most places that get tossed don’t look so good.”
“You’re not going to do anything?” I say, appalled.
“We’ll fill out a report. If you have any additional information, call us.”
“But we know who did it,” Bria says.
Liam makes a rude sound. “Dirk wouldn’t have done it himself. There’d be no way to prove it.”
The police get statements from them and leave.
An hour later, we’re all sitting in the living room. On top of the coffee table are the only two casualties: a broken dish and a splintered picture frame.
“You really think Dirk did this?” Garrett asks.
“Who else?” Liam says. “Looters might not know about the guitar, but Bria’s rings—they’d be gone. I’m one hundred percent sure it was him. Fucking asshole.”
“How did he get in without damaging the lock?” Bria asks.
“Dirk knows lots of shady people. They either picked it or bribed the super.”
“Maybe the super will talk,” she says.
“You don’t know Dirk. Do you think he’s that stupid? He’s perfected the art of covering his tracks. It’s pointless to go after him.”
“What’s on the video?” Garrett asks.
Liam and Crew get shuttered looks.
“What?” Garrett says, glancing between them. “I know there’s stuff you don’t want to talk about, but this is getting serious.”
“Blackmail,” Liam says. “The video shows him blackmailing my mom.”
“Why did he do that?”
I stand abruptly, knowing Liam doesn’t want to answer him. “Does it really matter? I’m going to the kitchen.